


Exchange

by Hekate1308



Series: The Crowley Chronicles [36]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 13, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 19:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15080465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: There were many things Dean Winchester would rather have heard than the words “There seems to be a hole in the universe in this one small town no one’s ever heard of“  because… he didn’t really need a reason. Alternate universes just sucked, plain and simple. Granted, they didn’t have proof that there was one behind the gap that had suddenly opened; but neither could they be sure that there wasn’t, and none of the people who had gone to investigate it had returned.





	Exchange

There were many things Dean Winchester would rather have heard than the words “There seems to be a hole in the universe in this one small town no one’s ever heard of“  because… he didn’t really need a reason. Alternate universes just sucked, plain and simple. Granted, they didn’t have proof that there was one behind the gap that had suddenly opened; but neither could they be sure that there wasn’t, and none of the people who had gone to investigate it had returned.

Investigating the rift it was, then. At least they had Cas; Cas, who had come back from the dead once more, a little powered down and banged up, but otherwise alright.

And then, he wasn’t their only reinforcement these days.

They were loading up the Impala when Crowley showed up. Ever since he had abdicated, he had been increasingly bored (at least that was what it seemed like to Dean – Sam tended to see a more sinister motive behind his impromptu visits) and beamed over a few times a week, ostensibly to annoy them; although Dean couldn’t help but think sometimes, at night when everyone else was either asleep or meditating, that really, he and Crowley hadn’t been enemies in quite some time.

“Hello, boys”.

“Crowley – we’re about to drive to Wyoming. Seems we might have another portal to another universe on our hands.”

Crowley grimaced, and Dean couldn’t disagree. Considering it had taken another divine miracle to bring him back, just like Cas, and his first reaction to opening his eyes had clearly indicated that he hadn’t been expected to make it, he’d hardly be a fan of such doors as seemed to pop up everywhere, these days. “Bollocks. Guess we’ll have to take care of that one, too.”

Dean nodded; and when, five minutes later, Sam opened his mouth to protest as Cas got into the Impala and Crowley followed, he quickly shut him up with a pointed look.

The demon being on their side was a plus, as far as Dean was concerned. Even if he complained about his music. “Why do we have to listen to yet another head-banging, screeching band?”

“Because I’m driving, and the driver picks the music, so shut up.”

Miraculously, he did.

“I think there are some interesting cadences to be found in rock music” Cas declared, and Dean smiled at him through the rear-view mirror.  _Take that, Heaven programming squad. So much for all of Naomi’s brain needles way back when; nothing a little bit of good old hard rock wouldn’t fix._

They reached the town of Fallow Springs without any incidents, and after Dean had taken one look at Sam, he decided to be nice and offered to take Crowley with him while Sam paired up with Cas.

“It seems to me Moose is not quite resigned to the status quo yet” Crowley calmly observed as they walked up to the first witness’ house.

“You know Sam. Give him time.” Privately, considering Sam had only thanked Crowley once, and then it hadn’t seemed very genuine, he held little hope that anything would change soon, but he wasn’t going to tell him that.

The witness, a  little old lady, immediately opened the door. Remembering Crowley’s complaints in the care, Dean had decided to have a little fun; and so, as he held up his badge, he said, “Hello, madam. FBI, agent Wolfgang. This is my partner, agent Salieri. May we come in?”

He ignored the glare Crowley bestowed on him; They both knew he didn’t mean it anyway.

“Oh, of course, please come in, agents.”

Despite their protests, they were soon handed coffee and pie; and Dean, for one, decided that they had gotten lucky.

“So you are saying there was a…”

“I can’t really describe it any differently than… a hole in the universe” Mrs. Hatch told them. “It was as if… I was looking at a mirror, but instead of my reflection, I was looking at the other side. It was very distressing.”

“I am sure it was” Crowley said smoothly. “And so you called the police?”

“Yes, but ever since then, Sheriff Decker has been missing, and it’s all my fault!” her lip quivered and Dean quickly put his plate down.

“Mrs. Hatch, you did the right thing. Whatever happened to the sheriff, you are not to blame for it.”

She sniffed. “He was such a nice man, too.”

“And he did his duty” Crowley chimed in. He’d always been a smooth talker, so Dean wasn’t surprised.

They soon bid Mrs. Hatch goodbye; and after talking to several more witnesses and meeting back up with Sam and Cas, they had learned nothing more of substance. There was a door to another world, and they had to close it.

And neither Cas nor Crowley had any idea how to, this time around.

* * *

“Alright” Dean decided after a few hours of fruitless research, “Here’s a guess. A trickster.”

“A trickster?” Sam repeated.

“Yeah. Something with enough mojo to open the door – you know how these old gods are – enough time on their hands and a head full of mischief.”

“It could be” Cas said carefully, “We have no idea how many of them are still around. Crowley?”

“I always tried to keep away from them. No sense in trying to court death.”

Sam snorted. “Well at least we all agree that we have some standards.”

“So we are going with trickster until we are sure it’s something else?” Dean asked.

They wwre all in agreement.

* * *

Without anything better to do, they decided to check out the portal. Really, Dean would think in hindsight, they should have known better.

They had barely made it to the clearing in the woods where the door sometimes was and sometimes wasn’t, depending on who you asked, when a strong wind started blowing, lighting struck a nearby tree, and all of them, humans, angel and demon, were sucked in.

And everything went black.

* * *

When Dean came to, they seemed to be exactly where they had been before, but he knew better. The place felt wrong, as if they didn’t belong there.

After quickly checking that Sam was breathing and that Cas and Crowley were not because they didn’t have to (he swore to himself that one of these days he would find a way to figure out if an unconscious angel or demon was alive) he secured the clearing as best as he could while he waited for them to wake up.

Crowley was the first to stir. “Why” he muttered, opening his eyes, “Do you always have to end up in such situations?”

“Have you met us?”

Cas woke up soon afterwards, his usual stoic self; and with a touch of his Grace, Sam was awake not a minute later, not even worse for wear. “Where are we?”

“Parallel universe, Moose” Crowley said cheerfully, “Although the Apocalypse doesn’t seem to have taken place, thank God.”

Sam got up. “What –“

He was interrupted by the arrival of two people they knew very well indeed.

For one, Dean had basically raised one of them; and the other he was used to see in the mirror.

This universe’s Sam and Dean Winchester slowly lowered their weapons as they stared at them.

Then, the newly arrived Dean summed up his own feelings. “Son of a bitch.”

* * *

In the end, they decided to take them to the bunker, as undoubtedly Dean and his brother would have, too. He absent-mindedly wondered where Cas was during the drive; they had split up – other Dean was driving the Impala with Sammy and Cas and, while Sam 2.0 had hotwired a car and was taking him and Crowley to their destination. They had agreed to talk again when they were all back together. Still, he could watch, and he knew the demon was doing the same.

This Sam didn’t look different from his, right down to the shaggy mane that really needed a cut; and yet…

There were some subtle differences; he was rather sure both he and Sam had displayed more emotions than their counterparts when they had first seen each other; and they seemed to betray none of the slight panic even he had to admit he felt.

Still, though – different universe and all that. They could definitely have had it worse.

* * *

Once they were standing in the bunker, no one really seemed to know what to say.

“Alright, I’m calling in reinforcements. Maybe he can make sense of all of this” other-Dean decided, and his brother nodded.

“We can ask, at least.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know he always comes when I call.”

“Yes I do” Sam 2.0 sighed, and even though it wouldn’t be their version, Dean relaxed slightly at the thought of Cas showing up.

Dean dialled. “Yes, hello – we’ve got a situation here… Could you beam over? Yeah, yeah, love you too.”

He frowned. That didn’t sound like one of his and Cas’ usual talks. “Did he actually say he loved you?”

“No” he replied cheerfully, “But it annoys him when I do that.”

Again, there was something… different about him; maybe a small detail in his expression; but Dean still had the feeling as if he was looking in a mirror that distorted only a small part of him instead of the whole thing.

Oh, well. Just wait for Cas to show up and –

“I do hope it’s important Squirrel, I was winning big in Vegas.”

“Since when do you play?”

“I was talking about deals, in case you couldn’t –“

“Crowley?” Dean asked, turning around to their version. The demon was studying his counterpart with a raised eyebrow, which meant he was as baffled as the rest of them.

“Yeah, who did you expect?” Dean (man, this back-and-forth with the same names was going to get old really quick) replied. “Crow’s been around since he pulled me out of Hell.”

Okay, first of all, Crow? Second of all – “What are you talking about?”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Crowley pulling you out of Hell – that was –“ Dean gestured towards their Castiel, lost for words.

“Castiel!?” he exclaimed. “We met him later – Lilith was already trying to break the seals at this point.”

“You mean, I’d already broken the –“

“For God’s sake, that again? You were the  _object_  of the seal, not the  _subject_  –“

“Crow –“

“What? I eventually got you to see sense, I will not stand –“

“How utterly fascinating” Crowley drawled and moved past Dean up to – Crow, he supposed. At least he could tell them apart.

A moment later he realized that this was truer than he had thought. “Crow”, for the lack of a btter word, looked more – relaxed.

Plus, was that a leather jacket he was wearing? Dean was ready to bet it had still cost more than his whole wardrobe, but still.

“I assume you wanted to get him out before the first seal could be broken to thwart Lilith’s plan?” Crowley asked matter-of-factly, in fact in such a way that Dean found himself wondering whether he had considered the same plan but ultimately decided against it because it would have been too difficult to undertake, even for him.

He nodded, and looked – sheepish? God this version was a sight to behold. “I didn’t quite make it.”

“Ah well, it’s okay, we dealt with it” other-Dean said simply. “Crow, a drink?”

“You know me” he replied.

“Okay. Sammy, we should probably call Castiel as well – seeing as we have this mirror-verse version in the bunker.”

“I’ll power down the wardings” he agreed.

“Wait, you got the place warded against angels, but not against demons?” Sam asked.

“Rather sure it’s just me and not demons in general” Crowley supplied without taking his eyes off of his… mirror-verse self (Dean had heard worse comparisons in his life). “At least I don’t feel the least bit encumbered.”

“Dean came up with it” Crow told him. “A seal that allows me access because I burned it into my skin.” He rolled up his sleeve to show it off. If Crowley noticed that Crow, much like their Cas, was using the word “my skin” for his meat suit’s, he didn’t react. “You are most likely not affected because you’re not from this world.”

“Smart, but then I have never considered Squirrel as deficient in that respect as others have.”

“Oh, I know, it’s positively infuriating –“

“Guys –“ other Dean tried.

“I’ll come with you” Sam told his self from this dimension. He looked at Dean, and he gave an imperceptible nod. His brother was definitely trying to get more information out of him, and that would be easier when they were alone.

Once they were gone to deal with the wardings, Dean got them all drinks – beer for him and… himself, Craig for both Crowleys (to his credit, theirs did look somewhat astonished while Crow just accepted the glass as a matter of course) and… nothing for Cas. He was about to protest before the angel touched his forearm and shook his head.

“Gotta say” Dean commented, “You like a little bit… less unflappable than our Castiel.”

“What is he up to, in this world?” Dean asked, taking a sip of his beer; it was some microbrew he had never heard of, and bizarrely he suddenly had the thought that Crow might be making sure they always had high-end stuff to drink, instead of their usual slog.

“Castiel is the leader of Heaven.”

That wasn’t as big a stretch as… well, “Crow” Dean thought (no, that was a lie; of course it was; but he’d have to deal with that particular truth later). Still… He could see Cas pale next to him and quickly squeezed his shoulder in a brief show of support. “Why did he take that gig?”

“Well…” Dean drawled and looked at Crow, raising an eyebrow.

“It wasn’t just my idea” he protested. “Yes, we did have to strong-arm him into it; he was a bit reluctant, you see. But he makes a good King of heaven.”

“And he hates it when you call him that” Dean reminded him mildly.

Alright. So in this world Cas had taken over as the leader of Heaven when the angels had asked him to – and after, it had seemed, the others had done a little persuading – while Crow – “Just a question, but have you ever been the King of Hell?”

Crow snorted. “After it became known I had pulled Dean Winchester down from the rack, it would have been a struggle to get those black-eyed bastards even to listen to me, never mind obey a word I say. And really, I don’t mind having my own schemes to deal with.”

“Can’t tell you how many times we were on a hunt and it turned out someone in town owed him a favour” Dean boasted in a way that was familiar – he usually spoke of Cas and his angelic strengths like that.

God, this bizarre earth was even more bizarre than the others – for the simple fact that it was too similar to theirs for comfort.

* * *

“I assume your run-ins with angels haven’t exactly been… easy” Sam said when he saw the heavy warding.

This world’s Sam sighed. “You can say that again. They never quite recovered from their disapproval of a demon bursting Dean out instead of one of theirs when it came to us; although I think Castiel was more ashamed of it than anything else.”

“About that… it’s… safe to leave them by themselves, right?”

“Oh, Dean won’t pray to Castiel until we’re back.”

“No” he said, realizing his mistake, “I meant with… Crow.”

Of course this Sam wouldn’t think anything about it, just like he would have trusted any version of Cas he met.

“Yes. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a demon, and there have been a fair share of betrayals on both sides, but by now he’s so close to Dean I don’t think he’d try anything.”

He didn’t think he’d ever spoken so flippantly of everything they’d ever done to each other, but then, this one was friends with a demon, and it was bound to have influenced him the same way meeting Cas had influenced them.

“What’s yours doing, anyway? I haven’t seen him in a suit in years, except for when we’re playing fed.”

Sam did his best to suppress his shudder at the thought of Crowley just working cases with them as if it was nothing. For this Sam Winchester, it was just a normal day.

“He was the King of Hell, then he abdicated.”

“Small wonder. He’d never have enjoyed that. Wouldn’t give him enough time for his schemes and hanging around Dean.”

“He was rather fed up in the end, I will admit that” Sam said.

* * *

“That should be the last of them” he announced, scrapping away at the wardings. “After the Apocalypse, we decided the less we had to do with angels, the better.”

“And Castiel?”

Sam shrugged. “He’s alright, for an angel, that is. Don’t get me wrong, usually he means well; but he’s also screwed us over a couple of times.”

This world seemed to be mostly like their own – except that Cas and Crowley had somehow changed places; and even Sam had to admit that, if it hadn’t been for their friend, they would have seen angels as a much greater threat than they always had.

“Would be better if Dean prays to him, Castiel usually listens” he said off-handedly. At least some things stayed the same, then.

They returned to the war room to find… the Deans discussing something while the angels and demons were studying each other.

“What do you  _mean_ , you took the Mark of Cain?”

“We had to defeat Abbadon –“

“Alright, yes, she did want me for her meat suit, but –“

Sam saw with surprise that their Crowley had the decency to look guilty as he explained what had happened.

“Not a bad plan, I’ll give you that” the one in the leather jacket mused. “Considering the stories…”

Well, they’d known for a long time that Crowley had lied back then, so that wasn’t really a big shock.

Still – there was something about this one that was just… different. Almost like when he compared Cas as they had known him in the beginning, and now.

“Okay, then let’s dance.” Dean rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see if he answers; I haven’t prayed to him in a while.”

Dean looked baffled, and Sam couldn’t blame him.

* * *

It had been a long while since he hadn’t believed in the power of prayers.

And yet, it was pretty clear that this Dean had no idea how to pray. “Castiel, leader of Heaven and all the angels, I ask you to descend to help us –“

“What the Hell” he whispered.

“You got me there, Squirrel” Crowley answered and he was almost glad to see him react to anything at this point, really. “Feathers never struck me as someone who values the throne.”

And then they heard the wings; Cas’ wings. Dean turned around, his heart beating faster at the thought of his friend still having them.

He immediately saw the differences. This Cas had little of the humanity their friendship had slowly instilled in him; he held himself as stiff as he had when they had first met; and he was studying them all with something that could at best be described as friendly interest and at worst as “business association is curious what these diiots had come up with now.”

“There are more of you” he decided and Dean rolled his eyes.

“No shit; Sherlock.”

“I don’t understand that reference.” He turned to the demon he knew and asked, “DO you know what’s going on, Crowley?”

“I’ve told you a million times, it’s Crow.”

God, this was weird. At least he finally knew what Kirk had felt like when he’d seen Spock with a beard.

Castiel ignored Crow’s request. “The barrier between the worlds ought not to be breached.”

“Agreed” Dean muttered under his breath before saying aloud, “It was a Trickster. Has gun throwing people where they don’t belong, I guess.”

“Makes sense, those buggers never care about human lives” other Dean grumbled and he was surprised to detect a hint of… Britishness in his voice. What the hell?

Then again, Cas was the one they spent the most time with outside each other in their world. So here, that must be Crowley, which meant…

Good God.

“Exactly. Sadly, the door seems to have closed behind us” Crowley said and Dean breathed a sigh of relief. Rely on the demon to stay as unflappable as this world’s Castiel.

Until Dean 2.0 started to laugh. “It’s like you were in the beginning” he told Crow.

“I will have you know I had better fashion sense.”

“Nice try your Highness but you didn’t, trust me.”

Bad move. Extremely bad move. If Dean had learned one thing when they had been demons, it was that Crowley prided himself on his fashion sense. “Anyway, what are we going to do now?”

“At least we have enough rooms” this Dean invited them to stay, “Some are a bit dusty, mind.”

“Dean’ll hate that” Cas and Crow said in unison while their counterparts blinked at them.

Dean sighed. This was going to be complicated.

* * *

He’d never missed sleep since he had turned into a demon, but sometimes he couldn’t deny that it had its uses, especially if one wanted to forget for a few hours.

It was true; at the time, he had considered getting Dean out of Hell, but he had seen no way in which he could manage it without being detected; but somehow, in this world, he had, and now he had a nickname and a room in the bunker and the boys didn’t just call him when they needed him…

He shook his head. It was just a matter of luck, really, and he’d drawn the short straw. What else was new.

A knock on his door. He expected Dean – if anyone was going to check up on him, it was always going to be the elder Winchester – and was surprised when he himself, or at least this dimension’s version of him, stepped into the room. He wasn’t prone to knocking.

“I could have just beamed over, but I assume you value your privacy”.

Good God. “Beamed over” indeed. Must be one of that Crowley’s – no, Crow’s – Dean’s sayings.

“What do you want?”

“Just making sure everything’s fine. The Deans are busy looking after everyone, of course. Except for Castiel, he flattered off to Heaven. Probably has to tell his legions of angels that everything’s fine.”

“So they are still rather annoying?”

“At least Castiel is keeping them in check” he said, casually leaning against the door. Crowley would have assumed it was some ill-advised attempt at posing, if he hadn’t seen how relaxed the demon was-.

Small wonder. No black-eyed bastards to deal with, and the boys let him have a room. He wasn’t going to get hung up on it.

He shrugged. “Castiel always struck me as a capable leader, if not for some unfortunate tendencies of his.”

“Yeah, well – he doesn’t really have those, here. Or let’s say, he didn’t get to develop them because he felt too repulsed by us hanging around the boys to stick around long enough.”

Crowley was struck by how much more… colloquial this version of him sounded. Was a few years with the Winchesters really enough to undo hundreds of years?

Who was he kidding. He knew it was true.

* * *

There were a few rules Dean had learned when it came to bizarre versions of the world he was used to.

One, expect anything.

Two, don’t ask stupid questions.

Three, go with your gut.

As far as the last one went… this world wasn’t too bad. Sure, it sucked that they and Cas weren’t really fans, but at least he was ruling Heaven and it seemed to go well for him.

And of course, then there was Crowley.

In a leather jacket.

And living in the bunker, apparently.

Dean wasn’t even that surprised.

Leave it to Crowley to take a “You saved me from Hell, guess you’re okay” as an invitation to move in and do what he wanted.

A knock on his door. He wasn’t in the least surprise when he himself appeared – well, this dimension’s version, anyway. “You settling in alright?”

He nodded.

“Crow’s gone to check on Crowley, the softie, but I’m not supposed to know.”

“Are we ever?”

“Knew your world wasn’t that different from ours.”

Dean shrugged. “Seems to me that, apart from some life-altering decisions, everything is the same.”

“As Castiel would say, “That was sarcasm.””

He couldn’t help it; he chuckled. “How is he doing, by the way? As Heaven’s leader?”

“Not bad. We haven’t had to worry about the feathered dicks in a while. Naturally, there was the thing where he wanted to break into Purgatory to get more power…”

Dean remembered Cas as God and swallowed.

“But you know Crow. Told us immediately and we found a better way.”

“Crowley told you!?” Dean couldn’t imagine a world where that would have been the case, but it seemed that in this one, fighting off the Apocalypse with them had changed the demon he knew into – well… “How did that work, exactly? The way I remember it, Crowley offered Cas the deal…”

“Castiel wanted to do the right thing, so he brought Sam back from Hell. Problem was” other Dean grimaced.

“No soul?”

“Exactly. Now, he didn’t know what to do when he realized he hadn’t returned to me, so he went to Crowley, thinking he could explain human behaviour to him, or that he simply hadn’t understood something, and somehow Crow got the whole story out of him – how he was trying to grasp more power to lead Heaven efficiently – and long story short, I was having dinner with Lisa and Ben when he appeared next to our table.”

“I assume that went down well.”

“He left Hell for good pretty soon after that. Couldn’t bear the black-eyed sons of bitches anymore, he said.”

Fair enough, Dean thought. But if they continued to compare life stories, they’d be stuck here for the next year, and what they needed to do was get home. “Does Crow have any idea how to get us home?”

Man it felt weird to say it.  

“I have no doubt he has his theories, and if we’re lucky, his Majesty might tell us eventually” he said simply. “Could be he comes up with something in the library tonight.”

The thought of Crowley running around the bunker unchecked and doing what he wanted should probably have disquieted Dean much more than it did – but then, he was aware that he and Crowley… well, their history was complicated.

And he could easily see how he would be a plus on hunts. They had got rid of the first hell hound working together.

“I better let you rest, can’t be healthy all this dimension jumping.”

“Have to agree with you there.”

Dean certainly had enough to think about.

* * *

Both Crowley and Crow ended up in the library.

“Anything I need to know? The boys take special precautions?” he asked.

“Against what?” Crow replied, somewhat naively, as he thought. He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh” Crow chuckled. “Not at the moment, but once Dean painted a demon trap on the ceiling and left me there for three days.”

“Why?”

“He was angry I had jumped in front of him when a dragon attacked during a hunt.”

Crowley would rather not have thought about what he would have done in the same situation, because he could empathize. “Does he use holy water on you when he’s angry too?”

“That’s more Moose’s territory.”

“I see.”

Even as he did his research, Crowley watched Crow from the corner of his eyes. There was something about him… something he couldn’t put his finger on…

It clicked when he reached for yet another book, simply shaking his head in disappointment that he had found nothing in the last without showing the smallest sign of impatience.

Crow was… content. There was nothing of the usual demonic wrath that even plagued Crowley now and then, nothing of the wish for vengeance or the need to hurt others all those who were damned carried with them.

He concentrated on the book in his hands. It was easier.

* * *

He would later think that he really shouldn’t have been surprised that the first one in the kitchen the next morning was Crow in his leather jacket, putting two pies on the table. “Good morning. I have found that our Dean is more amenable when he had a good breakfast, and I strongly assume you share his love for pie?”

Considering they looked alike, Dean wondered what had given him away. But maybe Crow just knew him well enough.

Plus, hey, free pie. He wasn’t going to complain about that. “Pecan?”

“Of course. What do you take me for?”

And wasn’t that just the question. There was barely anything demonic about him, really. “Thanks.”

“Also, we think we found out who the Trickster is” Crow said.

“What? Why didn’t you wake us?”

“Why should we have?”

He reminded himself once more that this one was probably not a demon who enjoyed annoying his friends.

“Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

Turned out Crow was a pretty good roommate. For one, he was not trying to rile him up every minute they spent together, and Dean wondered if he’d been different from the start or been slowly mellowed down over the years. Probably the latter, knowing him.

“How are you all handling this? And remember, I can tell when you’re lying.”

“As well as can be expected.”

“That’s pretty good in Winchester speak, then.”

Dean shrugged. “We’ve had weirder.”

“I would have to agree.”

“So you really don’t go to Hell anymore, do you?” Dean eventually commented when the ensuing silence became too long.

“I don’t like it.”

“Trust me, I know that. Not too fond of the place myself.”

“At least it’s better than Heaven. You know what to expect.”

“UI guess” Dean acquiesced. “But yours is pretty stable with Cas at the helm, you said.”

“It is – for Heaven. And you must know Castiel can be rather put out when he gets his panties in a twist.”

Dean snorted against his will. “This world isn’t very different from ours in some aspects.”

“Forgive me if I have to say these aspects are rather important in my point of view.”

Other Dean entered and enthusiastically greeted Crow, who immediately decided to go and look for the others, apparently deciding to leave them alone for a while.

Typical. Had to get his drama somehow if none was immediately available.

This universe’s Dean didn’t seem to confused about it. Instead, he immediately began with, “No offense, but… what does your Crowley get up to, now that he’s no longer the King?”

Dean shrugged. “Sometimes he hangs out in the bunker, no idea what he does when he’s not there. Can’t be too bad, though, or we’d know about it.”

He snorted. “You can say that again. If Crow ever made his mind up to cause trouble – but nah, he wouldn’t do that again.”

“He is still a demon” Dean pointed out.

“And angels are feathered dicks, yet you hang out with… Cas” he said, sounding unsure and weird, and Dean remembered his best friend calling Sam an abomination and could only shrug.

“Agree to disagree?”

They had to leave it at that.

“Your Crowley looks a bit lonely, though” the other one eventually commented.

Dean once more couldn’t suppress his laughter. “Crowley lonely? Right.”

“You’d be surprised” his counterpart said simply. “God knows we’ve betrayed each other left and right so often that there were times where we went for months without speaking.”

“And you were never worried that he’d do something dangerous, then?”

He shrugged. “It’s par for the course, when your best friend’s a demon. And you know Crowley – whatever he’d be doing was at least bound to be clever and imaginative, so there was that.”

* * *

Soon the others showed up – well, minus this world’s Castiel. Dean assumed he had too much Heaven-leading to do.

“So” Crow announced, still clad in his leather jacket, sitting down between the two Deans as if it was nothing, “We have a theory.”

“Knew you two were getting up to something” Crow’s Dean answered simply, a fondness in his tone Dean never allowed himself when speaking to or of the demon.

He could tell Crowley had noticed, too. Of course he had.

“What is it?” he asked him more gently than he normally would have, feeling Sam’s gaze burn a hole in his skull.

The demon was taken aback, then cleared his throat. “Coyote.”

Other Dean frowned. “From Navajo mythology? Hard to believe he would stick around, with everything we’ve done to his people.”

“Never underestimate Tricksters, darling” Crow said. “Never forget that what they love above all else is mischief. God knows what he’s been up to.”

“So Coyote opened a portal to another world and…” Dean prompted.

“Many other worlds, could be. All those people who disappeared – they’re probably somewhere else.”

“And because he thought it was fun, he sent us here” Sam finished.

“I don’t think his and my definition of fun are the same” Cas declared, “But at least we know how to kill him.”

That at least, Dean thought with relief, turning to his friend, was true.

* * *

Considering they had been the Trickster’s victims this time, dipping a stake into a bit of their blood was the easiest thing in the world.

Plus, he had to be hanging around to enjoy the chaos he’d created.

So playing bait it was once again – although this time, they were four experienced hunters plus an angel and two demons – Castiel, it seemed, had to deal with an in-fight up in Heaven.

“Okay guys, spread out” Dean announced when they had arrived at the clearing. They did so.

Naturally, it was him the Trickster decided to focus on. Who else?

“You don’t belong here” a voice sing-songed behind his back and he turned around to find… an actual coyote staring at him.

Alright. Talking animal. He could deal with that. “You would know all about that, wouldn’t you.”

If it would have been possible for what was basically a large dog to shrug, Dean would have thought he’d just done that. “Oh yes, but then, you aren’t my target, so why should I even care? Oh, I know” he laughed, “You are precious to it.”

Dean took two things from that. First, Coyote obviously referred to those he attacked as things, and second – man, he sounded creepy when he laughed.

“His anguish was wonderful to behold” he gloated. “Being thrown into a world where he is actually cared for, oh what his not-a-soul went through –“

O-kay, Dean was ready to go with the stabbing now.

And what did he mean by –

“Squirrel, how is it going?”

Coyote turned around, almost jumping with glee. “There you are!”

_Crowley_. Crowley had been his target all along.

Wait, what he had said –

Dean decided to first deal with this, than talk to him. He’d drag him to a bar and get it all at once he had –

He found he couldn’t move.

“Relax” Crow whispered in his ear, “We got a plan.”

That may have been, but it didn’t make standing still any less annoying when his – friend decided to take on a Trickster on his own.

“Did you enjoy your show?” Crowley asked evenly, stake in hand, but Dean could only think of an apocalyptic wasteland, the sound of “Bye, boys” ringing in his ears, and his heart started beating violently in his chest.

“Oh yes; how do you like it to know that there’s another world where you got lucky?”

“I was always aware there had to be.”

“But seeing it is something else, isn’t it,  _Crow_.” He looked at the stake in his hand. “I suppose I should find it admirable that you intend to sacrifice yourself – and maybe one of the others will succeed, who knows? But –“

It was at this point that Crow acted. A net made out of some thin material was thrown over Coyote, causing him to trash around and curse in a language Dean couldn’t identify.

“Always the same with you mythological beings. The weakest materials keep you trapped” he declared. “Crowley, good job distracting him.”

Crowley was apparently as helpless to accept compliments from himself as from others, since he simply shrugged.

“So” Crow said, leaning down, “Here’s what will happen. Of course the boys were ready to gank you and having to stay here, buuuuuuuuuut here’s our idea. You open the portal, send them back to their own world, and promise not to attack anyone else for the next hundred years.”

Coyote hauled in dismay, but was interrupted by low growling coming from Dean’s left.

“Juliet!” Crow called out, “That’s a good girl. You’d love to play around a little with this bag of fleas, wouldn’t you, darling.”

Of course this one also had his favourite doggie. Dean would have laughed if he could have.

Finally, after much sniffling and angry snarling, Coyote accepted, and the two demons freed him just as other Dean, the Sams and Cas showed up – Dean would later learn they had been stuck in a maze.

“Should have known” his other version said, shaking his head after they had explained everything. “You’re bad enough when you get ideas on your own, so two of you –“

“Yeah, yeah, Squirrel, next time the drinks are on my, now let’s take care of this.”

* * *

After everything, Dean decided, it was almost disgustingly easy. Open the portal, say a quick goodbye, and back they were.

They didn’t stay together for long though, since Crowley couldn’t wait to get away from them after mumbling something that might have been “See you later, boys” even though his heart clearly wasn’t in it.

“What was that about?” Sam asked.

Dean remembered what Coyote had told him and decided it was time to change a few things. “Guys, there’s something you should know.”

* * *

There was no point in wallowing. He couldn’t change what he had done years ago, and really, he didn’t have it all that bad, all things considered.

And so, Crowley was soon back at the bunker to give the boys the good news.

“The Men of Letters seem to have more and more problems with keeping the monster under wraps these days, they won’t try to take over again for a while – “ Crowley stopped talking abruptly when he realized Dean was cleaning out a room he’d never been in before. “Are you expecting guests?”

“We have enough guest rooms” he said matter-of-factly. “Just hope this is enough for you because we aren’t exactly the Ritz.”

“The – “

“Yes, so don’t expect room service.”

Dean brushed past him. “Come on, Sam and Cas are in the war room.”

That might have been, but Crowley found contemplating his room for the next few minutes a far more interesting thing to do.

No one mentioned it when he arrived in the war room later than he should have, all things considered – aside from Dean calmly asking, “Everything alright, Crow?”

He decided he could get used to this.


End file.
